Mods could just make a filter to remove everything new anyway. The concept of mods being unpaid volunteers means they get to fuck with reddit if they really want. They already had that issue with some subs just starting to allow porn during the first api protest. Sure reddit can just churn through to newer friendlier mods like the first time but they're not going to be able to crush all the dissent and drama from moves like that.

But actually I think reddit has a bigger problem than protests. They tweaked their algorithm recently and it is going the way of facebook now, I've been getting 0 upvote day-old posts shown to me. They're probably getting more engagement but I don't think redditors are going to put up with that level of enshittification as easily as other social media where people are locked in by friends and followers.